Utah Names New CIO

Mike Hussey, who was named Utah’s new chief information officer Tuesday, tells CIO Journal that he will focus on ongoing efforts to boost data efficiency and security across some two dozen state agencies.

“Data security is a top priority for CIOs, particularly state CIOs,” Mr. Hussey said in an email Tuesday. “We are responsible for ensuring the public's personally identifiable data remains secure and out of the hands of those who intend to use the data in a damaging way,” he said.

To that end, Mr. Hussey said he will work with other states, local governments and public safety entities throughout the country to “increase the protection of Utah’s information assets.”

Mr. Hussey comes from the Utah Department of Technology Services, where he was IT manager since July 2014, and takes over the post from outgoing CIO Mark VanOrden, who is set to retire on Nov. 12.

The data efforts, begun by Mr. VanOrden, are part of a Big Data initiative aimed at aggregating tax, business applications, drivers’ license and other data – often stored by separate agencies in incompatible formats – into a single, accessible and sharable format.

The goal is to make troves of state data easier to use for businesses and citizens alike, Mr. VanOrden told CIO Journal last month.

On the commercial side, Mr. Hussey will work with the Utah Technology Council, a trade group of over 5,000 high tech, clean tech and life science firms, and other private-sector IT firms, to seek ways to foster growth among the state’s 5,700-plus technology companies.

Mr. Hussey was previously a LAN administrator in the office of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., for four years beginning in 2005, and, prior to that, a network manager at the University of Utah’s Marriott Library for six years in the 1990s.

Among other career milestones, Mr. Hussey helped create the largest CD-ROM database network in the nation as a research aid for the University of Utah, according to statement issued by the governor’s office. Later, as a state IT manager, he helped introduce the use of online streaming audio from the state House and Senate floors, and implemented software designed to centralize the statewide voter database.

In 2013, he received the Governor’s Award for Excellence for Outstanding Public Service.